In 1983, a little girl named Chen Xiexia was born in a small mountain village in Guangdong. She grew up in a typical poor peasant family, her parents were simple, kind, hardworking and capable.
Xiao Chen Xiexia has been burdened with the family's livelihood since she was sensible, and she has learned all kinds of farm work neatly. Every morning, before dawn, she got up and pulled the heavy cart to work in the fields, and she could not go home until the sun went down.
When he was nine years old, a sports school coach came to the town, and he found talented children in the village. Seeing that Xiao Chen Xiexia could easily pull a board car weighing hundreds of pounds, his eyes lit up.
Chen's father and Chen's mother hesitated, but decided to let their daughter give it a try. After all, it could be a rare opportunity to change your fate. Since then, 9-year-old Chen Xiexia has embarked on a long road of weightlifting, full of longing and expectation for the future.
In 1997, 14-year-old Chen Xiexia left her hometown and joined the fiercely competitive Bayjack Heavy Duty Team. For the first time, she saw how intense the training of a professional weightlifting team could be, and how amazing the strength of her teammates was.
The daily high-intensity weight training and strict physical fitness classes made her unbearable and frequently lagged behind others when she was not fully grown.
At first, Chen struggled to keep up with the team's training rhythm, but after a few months of training, the weight of the weights was still very difficult for her. The rest of the team was already able to lift more weight than she could have imagined.
She began to question her aptitude and had the idea of giving up.
Just when Chen Xiexia was confused, the old-timers in the team encouraged her to persevere. "Weightlifting does not rely on talent, but on perseverance and perseverance!" So Chen Xiexia rekindled her fighting spirit and gritted her teeth and insisted on hard training every day.
She often trains late into the night, physically and mentally exhausted, but does not give up easily.
In 2006, 23-year-old Chen Xiexia finally passed the selection and was honored to be selected for the national team. She has gradually emerged in important competitions at home and abroad, and her strength has also been recognized.
Winning the National Games and winning the World Championships triple crown, a series of brilliant results have boosted her confidence. However, the hardships of training and competition are unimaginable to outsiders. Injuries and troughs are frequent, but Chen Xiexia still gritted her teeth to support and prepare for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
In August 2008, 25-year-old Chen Xiexia ushered in the most important competition of her life - the 48kg weightlifting final of the Beijing Olympic Games. A month earlier, she had strained her thigh in training and everyone thought she was unlikely to be able to improve.
But Chen Xiexia did not give up, she gritted her teeth to complete the rehabilitation training, and decided to give it a try.
On the day of the finals, the venue was full of seats, and the five-star red flag fluttered high. The commentator announced the first place to appear, Chen Xiexia took a deep breath, slapped two heavy slaps, and then confidently walked onto the weight lifting platform.
"Come on, Xiexia!" In the audience, Chen Xiexia's family and teammates watched her nervously.
Chen Xiexia lifted the fixed weight one by one, although it was a little difficult, but it was still within her control. By the final move, she had to lift 113 kilograms, which was already more than her personal best.
"Come on, girl, you can do it!" The coach shouted encouragement from the sidelines.
Chen Xiexia took a deep breath, gritted her teeth and lifted it hard, hard but resolutely, and finally lifted the weight above her head!
The audience cheered enthusiastically, and Chen Xiexia burst into tears. As the national anthem sounded, the five-star red flag slowly rose, and she won the first gold medal for the Chinese weightlifting team in this Olympic Games.
At this moment, she stood on the highest peak of her life.
A year after winning the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics, Chen Xiexia's competitive form has declined significantly. At the 2009 Asian Championships, she surprised everyone by winning only a silver medal.
And that's just the beginning.
In 2016, a shocking news came that Chen Xiexia's sample from the 2008 Beijing Olympics was found to contain strictly prohibited doping ingredients!
In 2017, at the age of 33, Chen Xiexia faced the heaviest blow of her life when her Beijing Olympic title was officially stripped by the International Olympic Committee. Years of hard work were ruined, and the shadow of doping ended her career.
The harm of stimulants to the body is enormous. It can increase explosive power for a short time, but long-term use can lead to serious heart problems, liver and kidney damage. Chen Xiexia had to leave the weight gym she loved, and silently suffered the consequences of her mistakes alone.
Since then, Chen Xiexia has withdrawn from the public eye. She never appeared in any ring again, and whether she continued to train is unknown. The Olympic champion who once made Chinese proud disappeared silently.
Doping is unsportsmanlike, seriously endangers the physical and mental health of athletes, and undermines an environment of fair play. However, there are still a few athletes who use doping out of greed, hoping to achieve an unjust victory on the field.
Stimulants can improve explosive power and endurance in the short term, but long-term use in large quantities will directly damage the heart, liver and other vital organs. Dependence can lead to depression, insomnia, and even inability to live a normal life once the drug is stopped.
Users are often physically and mentally damaged, at unimaginable cost.
In order to close the loopholes of fraud, major sporting events have adopted a zero-tolerance approach to doping. The detection methods are also changing with each passing day, and the prohibited directory is constantly updated and improved.
Samples of athletes will be kept for up to 10 years, ready to be backtested using the latest technology.
But even though doping is strictly regulated, there are still individual athletes who take risks with a chance mentality, which not only harms themselves, but also ruins the reputation of the entire sport.
Chen Xiexia is a clear proof of this. From gold medals in weightlifting to discredit, her tragic lesson warns future generations that health and fairness must never be put at the expense of the desire to win.
Treating the symptoms but not the root cause of the problem is difficult to eradicate. We need to strengthen the sportsmanship of athletes from the source and establish correct competitive values. Only by firmly adhering to the natural attributes of sports and cracking down on all fraudulent behaviors can sports events return to their true nature and show the most touching determination and perseverance.
Chen Xiexia is an ordinary rural girl who does not have any innate advantages. Her only characteristic is her tenacious willpower and the spirit of not admitting defeat.
Working hard as a child and training hard as a teenager, she went from obscurity to the pinnacle of life step by step. The whole process was not easy, she went through hardships, fell and shed tears, but every time she was able to get up and continue to move towards her goal.
The moment she won the gold medal in the Beijing Olympics was the result of Chen Xiexia's efforts. She touched the people of the whole country and became the brightest star at that moment.
But the ensuing doping scandal threw her from the clouds to the lowest point in her life.
Doping is certainly the wrong choice for Chen Xiexia, but it does not negate her hard work and perseverance throughout her career. She has been through so many lows, but she has never given up.
This kind of tenacious spirit is worth learning from Xi every ordinary person.
Ordinary life requires perseverance. The goal is not achieved overnight, and the process is bound to be tortuous and bumpy. The important thing is not to be discouraged and stumble in the face of failure.
There is no path in life that does not revolve, only an indomitable will.
Chen Xiexia's story lies in the self-improvement of an ordinary girl. She also deserves encouragement to regroup again. A person may fall, but as long as she chooses to stand up, there will be new opportunities.
Let us give her hope, because there is still a long way to go.
The road of life will never be straight and high, and the glory and fall are just passers-by. We tend to lose ourselves after failure, forgetting that success can also be disorienting.
Chen Xiexia's story reminds us not to lose ourselves in the vanity of victory, but also to maintain the sportsmanship of humility, self-discipline and fair play. Talent or accomplishment does not determine a person's worth, but whether she is on the right path.
Every ordinary person will have his own sky of life, even if it is ordinary, it must shine. The goal may be small, but it can be earth-shattering. The inner fire will eventually light up the starry sky of life.
In this turbulent world, if you choose the right direction, you will definitely be able to walk out of your own broad road. Don't forget the original intention and forge ahead, we can all create miracles in life.
There is still a long way to go in life, as long as you don't give up, your dreams will eventually come true. And the meaning of living lies in this.
We must believe that as long as we fight hard, we will surely see the dawn of hope.